The use of fixation devices for the treatment of vertebrae deformities and injuries is well known in the art. Various fixation devices are used in medical treatment to correct curvatures and deformities, treat trauma and remedy various abnormal spinal conditions. Treatment of these conditions generally requires the implantation of various component pieces such as support rods, crosslinks, caudal facing hooks, cranial facing hooks and like components, which form a spinal implant system.
It is necessary in spinal implant systems to properly anchor the system to bone to provide necessary support of the implant. Bone screws are commonly used for anchoring spinal implant systems. However, there are several problems with the use of fixed screws for anchoring spinal implants. The exact final position of a bone screw is difficult, if not impossible, to predict prior to the exposure of the patient's bone. This unpredictability results from the uncertainty of exact bone formation and shape within an individual patient. Additionally, it can be difficult to predetermine the structure of the bone, i.e. whether the bone is soft or even osteoporotic. Even if the final position of the screw can be predetermined, the necessary shape and position of a spinal rod implant may create unwanted stress upon the bone screw or the bone itself. This is especially true where a plurality of screws is required along the spinal column for securement of an implant. The alignment of the rod with several screws along the vertebrae compounds this problem and makes undesired stress much more probable. Moreover, this misalignment may influence the extent and speed of correction of the spinal defect.
It is thus desirable to have a polyaxial securement method. There exist a number of patents drawn to polyaxial bone screws. Unfortunately, the advantage of many of these designs comes at the expense of bulk in the connection means or complexity of implantation. Such devices included complicated retention collets or securing systems that eliminate the device from functioning as a polyaxial system. In addition, as the size of a bone screw increases, so too does the displacement of normal bodily formations, such as muscular tissue or bone. It is common in the insertion of spinal implants to necessarily remove portions of vertebral bone to allow proper insertion of a bone screw. Moreover, this bulk may result in long-term muscular displacement that may lead to a patient's pain or discomfort.
Increased complexity of the installation procedure is undesirable because it increases a patient's time in surgery. Increased operating time is known to increase the risk of many complications associated with surgery. The additional time necessary to remove, or even temporarily dislocate, bone or muscular tissue also increases operating time, and thus the risk of complications.
In addition, the prior art fails to provide a low-profile multi-piece connector that includes poly-axial adjustability and that can be used to accommodate a variety of geometry requirements that may arise for certain patients. Therefore, a need exists to provide a low-profile multi-piece connector that can be adapted to a variety of geometry requirements.
The prior art also fails to provide a tool for implantation of an attachment device that has an entry channel for a tension link, or that otherwise has an expansion slot. Thus, a need exists for a tool that fittingly accepts the head of an attachment device that has a hollow core with either an entry channel and/or at least one expansion slot, and that can be used to accept and drive into bone the attachment device.
In addition to the above noted shortcomings of the prior art, the prior art also fails to provide a low-profile device that includes a connector that can be positioned at the very end of a stabilizing rod, thereby providing a device that does not disturb the adjacent vertebra. More specifically, the connectors of the prior art require attachment to the rod with a section of rod extending beyond the connector itself. Accordingly, a need exists to reduce or otherwise minimize the length of rod run-out beyond the end connector to prevent interference with the articulation of the neighboring vertebrae.
The prior art also fails to provide a low-profile device that allows the rod length to be easily adjusted during implantation with a minimal amount of effort by the installing surgeon. More particularly, where two bone segments, such as a first vertebra and a second vertebra, are being bridged by existing devices, the rod typically extends beyond the connector, and needs to be specifically chosen or otherwise cut to accommodate the dimensions of the subject patient. Therefore, a need exists to provide an adjustable length rod implantation assembly that can be installed relatively easily by a surgeon, and that further has an ability to be adjusted at the moment of implantation to thereby accommodate the geometry requirements of the patient. In addition, a need exists for an extended shaft to a tension link that can thereby act as a guide or leader for installation of a number of the assembly components. Such a device can serve to simply the installation process and minimize the size of the incision necessary to access the patient's interior surgical site.
The prior art also fails to provide a rod implant that can be telescopically adjusted at the time of implantation. Such a device is needed to further accommodate the individual patient's requirements that exist and that are encountered upon performing and incision and encountering in situ conditions.
It is also desirable with some patients to have a spinal implant system that allows the vertebral column to settle naturally under the weight of the human body. Human bone heals more readily under some pressure. In a rigid spinal implant system, the patient's spinal column may be unnaturally held apart by the structure of the implant. It is possible that this stretching of the vertebrae, in relation to one another, results in delayed or incomplete healing of the bone.
In view of the above, there is a long felt but unsolved need for a method and system that avoids the above-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art and that provides an effective system that is relatively simple to employ and requires minimal displacement or removal of bodily tissue.